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Archive for the ‘melanie oudin’ Category

It might be because I’m a bitter, cynical, emotionally drained miserable shell of a facsimile of a sham of a human being, but I’m just not that interested in Indian Wells. It’s in the middle of a desert, I don’t get to go, and apart from that it’s your bog-standard Masters. And, like, Ivan Ljubicic won it last year. I’m just saying. Anyway, it’s started.

You can find the men’s draw here and the women’s draw here, I am mind-boggled by the complexity and can’t wait for someone to start televising the bloody thing (why is it only American Masters’ series events that aren’t televised from day one?) so I can have some opinions. So far the biggest news seems to be that Melanie Oudin has won a match, against Elena Vesnina no less.

Shit gets real later tonight when Delpo will play Steps in a tough first-round encounter for either of them. Full OOP here.

Italy will face the US in a repeat of last year’s Fed Cup final after the doubles pairing of Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the deciding rubber against Russia’s Elena Dementieva and Alla Kudryavtseva.

USA 3 – Russia 2

A well-deserved flag-bearing role for Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Heading into Sunday, the tie was poised 1-1 with Melanie Oudin and Elena Dementieva winning in straights on the opening day. But Demmy once again proved her Fed Cup credentials by recovering from a bizarre second-set bagel to take the match 63 in the third.

Fed Cup singles debutante Ekaterina Makarova was unable to close out the tie, however, falling to Mattek-Sands in a three-set defeat that left her in tears.

The devastated Makarova was benched for the doubles in favour of Alla Kudryavtseva and the gamble did not pay off, with the Russians never really in the match that Mattek-Sands and Huber won comfortably, 63 61, to kick off the celebrations in Alabama.

Congratulations indeed. Russia may not exactly have fielded their strongest team, but given the continuing and high-profile absences from the American team, it speaks volumes for their camaraderie and commitment that they’ve made their second Fed Cup final in as many years.

Unfortunately, unless something drastic changes, it’s hard to see the final going differently this time than it did in 2009. Admittedly the US will be the hosts and have a choice of surface, but it’s hard to see hard courts as disadvantaging the Italians, and Schiavone at least is no slouch on grass. And the final is right after the year-end championships, so those high-profile absences are probably set to continue. Basically I’m saying we can expect to see more of this:

The (mildly hilarious) shock of the day has to be Kim Clijsters losing to 258th-ranked Spanish qualifier Beatriz Garcia Vidagany, who is playing her first WTA tour tournament ever – so that consistency thing remains a work in progress, eh, Kim? Simona Halep had another good win, this time over the slumping Sorana Cirstea, and lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko is making the best of things in Ponte Vedra Beach. On the men’s side, Stan Wawrinka survived a bagel from a qualifier and Official NB Pick For Casablanca Champion Richard Gasquet put in another crushing win. Lleyton Hewitt was not so rusty in his first match back after hip surgery, and Zeballos and Gonzo will be playing in a frankly hot quarterfinal. That is all.

The 2010 Sony Ericsson WTA Player Awards were given out yesterday in Miami, with Serena picking up Player of the Year; Serena and Venus jointly taking Doubles Team/Fan Favourite Doubles Team of the Year; Kim Clijsters nabbing Comeback and Sportsmanship, Yanina Wickmayer taking Most Improved, Melanie Oudin Newcomer of the Year, and Elena Dementieva winning Fan Favourite Singles Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, Horacio Zeballos picked up the ATP award for Breakthrough of the Year, or something along those lines. I don’t know, I just like looking at his gentle eyes.

I feel like he would gently stroke your hair. For hours. Without being asked.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lucie Safarova. She’s beaten Paszek, Schiavone, Peer and now Flavia Pennetta, 46 63 64, to reach her second Paris final (she lost out to Nadia Petrova in 2007). From what I saw of her match against Flavia today, she was on fire.

Safs will be facing another second-time Paris finalist after Elena Dementieva beat Melanie Oudin, 46 64 63. It was a good performance from the believer, but after she wasn’t able to capture the second set, her fitness really let her down in the third and after three consecutive breaks, Dementieva won five of the last six games to take the match.

It was an encouraging tournament for Oudin, though, who moves on to Memphis next week. Elena said that it was the toughest win of the year for her so far, which is nice, considering some of the people she’s beaten. Good stuff.

For the first time since the tournament’s inception, there won’t be a Frenchwoman in the quarterfinals in Paris. Second seed Flavia Pennetta beat compatriot Tathiana Garbin, 61 63, to book her spot and will face Lucie Safarova, who demolished sixth seed Shahar Peer 63 60. As my wise friend Jacko would no doubt point out, the fast courts in Paris are made for Safs, and you can’t deny she has oodles of talent … but why does she only show up once in a blue moon? Answers on a postcard.

The other semifinal is a US Open rematch between Elena Dementieva and her spunky kryptonite, Melanie Oudin. Dementieva survived a tough challenge from Andrea Petkovic (now undoubtedly out getting drunk as we speak, and rightly so).

I would have given anything to be able to illustrate this result with a picture of Petkovic miming shooting herself in the head, by the way. Just putting it out there.

Melanie Oudin, meanwhile, continues her upwards momentum. She’s now won her last five matches after coming back from 26 13 down against Agnes Szavay to win 62 in the third. It was another inspiringly gutsy performance, as she was complaining of being ill during the first set and, more significantly, being comprehensively outplayed by Szavay before she clawed her way back in to the match and managed to exert just enough pressure to provide Szavay with an excuse to fall apart. By the third set, both were completely different players, and at least Melanie was moving in the right direction.

In Pattaya City meanwhile, a.k.a the Land that Photojournalists Forgot, hometown girl Tamarine Tanasugarn put an end to Anna Chakvetadze’s two-match streak and will face Sesil Karantcheva in the first semi. In the second, it’ll be Vera Zvonareva against Yaroslava Shvedova. Fair and balanced.

Take a bow, Melanie Oudin. Having lost her last six matches (and only winning 1 since the US Open), Oudin backed up her defeat of Pauline Parmentier on Saturday by defeating Julie Coin – subbed in for the floundering Alize Cornet – 76(3) 64 to clinch the tie for the USA.

It’ll be Russia next for the Stars & Stripes. Betting now open on who from both sides will actually show up.